Speed Racers
by NinjaPower
Summary: Grocery racers Tenten and Sakura have a habit of grocery racing that often leads them into trouble,like getting banned from stores. They never expected it to follow them home. Watch as grocery racing mixes with mangakas, strange landlords N/T twoshot RxR
1. Part 1

Naruto-

Speed Racers

Disclaimer- I do now own any of the Naruto characters or the concept of racing.

Part 1-

"Ok, ready?" A girl poised in front of her cart, "You get top half of the list and I get bottom half."

The other girl scoffed, "Don't act like I'm stupid. I'm the one who started this and by the way," she leaned towards the other girl with a cocky smirk, "You're going down."

Gasped, the other girl, gave a mocking laugh, "Right, I'm going to win and you'll have to address me as," she dramatically turned her head to stare into the distance, "Sakura the queen of grocery racing."

Tenten. the first girl, moved to stand by her and peered in the direction where she was looking and nodded understanding, "Your right. Those are some nice cakes over there."

Sakura gave her a glare, "Let's get started so I can derank you."

They got in position.

"Ok," Tenten started, "Ready."

"Get set," Sakura edged forward.

They shouted "GO!" They sped forward, avoiding customers and workers in the race of death.

Tenten was mentally cheering in her head, 'I've got this in the bag! I only need onions, sprinkles, and soy sauce and I win!'

But Sakura wasn't the one to cave in easily. She only had 3 items left too. She quickly dodged a little kid and a mother who yelled not so pleasant words while holding her kid's ears shut.

"Stupid kid," she muttered, "I'm going to win! I'll be queen!"

-

By some great higher power, when they got their three left items, they were in the same row, next to each other.

Tenten smirked, "You have been a good opponent, but you shall not win against me! Mwahahaha!"

"Don't count your eggs to soon," Sakura easily replied, "Or in this case, your noodles. I'm going to get there first."

The empty aisle was tense. Both waited for the other to make a sign of weakness or to hesistate.

Minutes ticked by as they stood apprehensively. Then suddenly they burst into full speed, cutting and swerving past each other to get to the cash register. Neck to neck the race was almost undecided, but then! A worker popped out of nowhere with a cart full of ice cream.

"EEPPP!!" Sakura tried to break while Tenten was struggling as well, but no avail. They plowed into the cart sending ice cream flying into the sky.

While they tried to assess the situation, Tenten and Sakura could hear the mic above them. "Um…cleanup in aisle 4."

-

"Well…I've never seen this before," the manager said. He gave them a cold look. Sakura and Tenten tried to appear as innocent as possible (which really wasn't much). Tenten winced when his white eyes shot accurately shot her a look that read, "I know what you did…and you're not getting away that easily."

Tenten gulped and prayed for some mercy while Sakura hoped it wouldn't cost too much to pay for the charges.

The manager, who's somehow similar, threatening aura wrapped around them to slowly choke them, "So," he politely smiled, even though they knew there was a dark menacing behind it, "Could one of you explain what happened?"

Sakura and Tenten gave each other side looks to debate who would face the demon. After a long staring contest, Tenten blink and muttered a curse and turned towards the cold manager, "Ehh, you see that umm…we were shopping and all of a sudden on our way to the register the ice cream cart pulled out of nowhere super speed!" Gesturing wildly to make her point, Tenten pleaded for some help.

All he gave her was a raised eyebrow and a long look of silence. Tenten threw her hands up in pleading, "We didn't mean it! It was purely an accident!"

After a while longer of staring at her, he sighed, "Fine, this time I'll give you a warning," he gave them another dangerous glare, "But next time, I'll have to do something that is rather uncommon, I'll have to ban you from the store."

"Actually," Tenten muttered, "it's not that uncommon." Sakura elbowed her and gave an innocent smile, "Thank you very much. We're very sorry." She got up and dragged a wimpering Tenten up with her, "We'll leave you alone now."

As they turned to leave, the door opened for a girl's head to appear, "Boss, we've got it cleared up."

Tenten brightened, "Hi—" Sakura elbowed her again.

The manager gave Tenten another speculative look, "Do you know each other?" The other girl had pure terror on her face.

Tenten quickly covered up, "NO!" she nervously laughed, "I'm just the social butterfly comfortable with everyone." '_Except you'_ she thought.

He, again, ignored her bad excuse, "Fine, remember next time. No speeding in the store."

The girls nodded quickly and left.

Once the room was empty, the manager sighed again and rubbed his temples, "I never imagined I'd have to tell anybody that."

--

Once back to their apartment, Sakura and Tenten finally sighed in relief.

"I can't believe we almost got banned from another grocery store," Sakura exclaimed, "We're lucky they let us pay for the stuff we got."

Tenten looked up from her ice cream, "Yeah, and they let us keep some of the ice cream that wasn't so damaged."

Sakura sweatdropped, "We had to pay for that and all other damaged ice cream."

Tenten shrugged, "Same difference."

"I think we might want to stop grocery racing," Sakura suggested.

Tenten jumped up in protest, "Why!? Without it, shopping is just…" she paused looking for the word.

"Shopping?" Sakura suggested.

"No," Tenten scoffed, "Boring. The thrill of shopping is gone without the race!"

Sakura got up and went to the counter and looked at some receipts and checkbook, "Most of our paychecks go to grocery bills. It's even more than our utilities and rent combined!"

Considering this point, Tenten pondered, "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to stop," she opened another ice cream bar, "By the way, how many more grocery stores can we shop at?"

Sakura peered the map, "Still counting the one we were at today, 5 in town."

"Soon, we'll have to shop out of town or order online."

Sakura considered that, "It would be easier."

"But we'd have no other reason to go outside," Tenten gave her a long look, "You're miss lazy once you get home and I work from home." She shrugged, "If we shop online, we'll all get fat and die from being all alone."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Fine, by the way," Sakura pulled out a letter, "The old grouch put in another complain to the landlord about us," she tossed it towards Tenten.

Tenten opened it and read it, "Too noisy!?" she gaped, "We are so _not_ noisy! Stupid bastard," she said the last part in a mutter. She got up to put the letter back, "So what did the landlord say?"

"He really didn't care. He was too busy trying to look down my shirt and up my skirt."

Tenten nodded understandingly, "It's a great risk you do for your home and castle."

"Speaking of home and castle," Sakura brought up, "We need a new lamp." She pointed to the one currently there. It lopsided towards the wall and the cover ripped with a metal bar sticking out.

"It's not that bad," Tenten defended, "You can't toss out Old Lampy!" She went over to mock hug it, "He's feeling offended." Picking up another ice cream bar, she went back to Sakura to give her a puppy dog look, "Please, mommy? Can we keep Old Lampy?"

Sakura punched her on the arm, "Act more mature. Your job is getting to your head."

"I'm a shoujo mangaka!" Tenten exclaimed, "I'm supposed to think like a kid! Not doing that could jeopardize my career."

"Whatever," Sakura replied, having this argument countless number of times before gave up and went to the kitchen to start dinner, "Well be having curry for dinner. That is-" she glanced towards the countless number of wrappers on the ground, "if you still have room for more."

Tenten laughed, "I always have room for more," and tossed the latest wrapper over her shoulder. They paused as they heard a weird creaking in the room.

"What's that?" Tenten wondered looking towards the ceiling, "It doesn't sound like an earthquake."

-

Then they heard a crash from the other room. Sakura and Tenten ran back into the living room and saw Old Lampy bonding with the wall and the next room.

Sakura gave her an accusing look, "Now do you want a new lamp?" and went to call the land lord

Tenten gave another nervous laugh, "I'll consider it., but what do we do?" She peered at the damage and gestured towards the wall, "The old grouch isn't going to be too happy about it."

"Old grouch?" Tenten heard behind her, and slowly turned around starting to desperately apologize for the second time that day before freezing at the sight of a familiar face.

"EEEHHH!?"

Sakura turned around concern and froze as well.

On the phone, it could be heard, "Haruno-san? What's going on? Is someone molesting you?...Can I watch!?"

--author's note--

I'm planning on making this a two-shot and this time I'm determined to keep it that way. The last two-shot attempt (Ambitions and Issues) ended up being a full fledged story. But this time it'll be different. I'm going to stick to a two-shot!

So who do you think the old grouch is?

NinjaPower signing out!


	2. Part 2

Naruto-

Speed Racers

Disclaimer- I do now own any of the Naruto characters or the concept of racing.

Part 2-

Tenten continued gaping at the face in the hole made by the lamp. Sakura joined in the gaping until she realized that the phone was still on and told the land lord the situation.

"You…You…" Tenten managed to sputter.

The 'old grouch' nodded, "Yes, me, though I'm not really surprised seeing you by seeing your antics." He continued, "I'm coming next door to assess the damage from there. Open the door." The face disappeared and knock was heard the door. Tenten considered not opening the door, but apparently he predicted this fact by knocking even harder and more consistently.

She peered towards the hole and sighed. Opening the door, she faced the demons of past demons.

"Well…I didn't think I'd see you so quickly," he noted, "Of course, you had to be up to no good." He didn't wait for her to let him in and walked straight towards the hole, "How did this happen?"

She responded dully, "The lamp fell over."

He gave her one of the many long looks, "The lamp… fell over?"

"YES!!" She glared at him, "I'm not lying!"

Just like before, he ignored her and pulled out a camera and started taking pictures.

"Why are you doing that?" Tenten asked.

For a while she thought he wouldn't answer, when suddenly he responded, "For future reference when the Land lord decides to charge me for the bill. I can prove that it's your fault."

She considered punching him when he suddenly turned around at the sound at the door.

Tenten quickly put the fist behind her back hoping he wouldn't notice.

-

The door burst open and the land lord came in.

"Ah…How is everyone?" He grinned widely and immediately diverted his attention to the two girls.

Tenten and Sakura quickly covered up as much skin as possible.

"Bad" the old grouch now ignored him and continued with his business.

"Horrible."

"Hello, Mr. Land lord, feeling a tad bit sick." Sakura resisted the temptation to get out her spare picks she brought home and test them.

He gasped and quickly grabbed Sakura's hands, "Just call me Jiriaya and that's terrible! We must make you feel better immediately!"

Now Tenten ignore him as well, the less she had to deal with him the better.

Sakura struggled to divert his attention where it should be, "Don't you want to see where the damage is?"

He blinked, "Isn't it right here, darling?"

She blanched at darling and Tenten gagged in sympathy.

Sakura determined directed him towards the hole, "Right here."

Jiriaya looked at the hole and tsked, "That is quite some damage. I'm afraid you'll have to pay for the damage yourself."

"How much should it cost?" Tenten asked. She could feel her wallet wilting as she spoke.

He paused and scratched in chin in concentration, "Hmm….I would guess about 1,000."

"EEHHHH!" Sakura and Tenten yelled.

The old grouch, who had been silent the whole time, asked the main question, "Do I have to pay for part of it?"

"Were you responsible?" Jiriaya was stacking up him

"No." He wasn't cracking under Jiriaya.

"Then you don't" They both nodded content to deal with each other as possible.

Tenten whimpered in pain, "Could we pay it in installments or at a discount?"

Jiriaya pondered glazing his eyes over Tenten and Sakura, "Sure, I'll give you a discount." Sakura and Tenten looked at each other in happiness. "Under one condition." Happy moment broken.

Sakura foreseeing doom in their future asked, "What condition?"

"Both you," pointing to Sakura and Tenten, "and you," addressing the old grouch, who was not pleased in any way for being part of the condition, "have to stay the entire time while it is being fixed."

All three of them started to protest. Jiriaya held up a hand to silence them, "That is my agreement. If so done, both rents will be decreased for a year. Then afterwards it is up for you to decide."

Tenten was confused, "Decide what?"

Jiriaya smiled, "You'll see."

-

Soon after the land lord left, leaving the old grouch, Tenten, and Sakura to decide.

Animosity was evident by the way they sat; the old grouch on one side and Tenten and Sakura on the other.

Quiet angry glares filled the room. Tenten glared at the old grouch. He glared at Tenten. Sakura glared at the hole. The hole glared at Old Lampy. Old Lampy was dead, so it didn't glare at anyone.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…I'm for the plan if you are," Tenten continued to glare at the old grouch. She paused to realize she didn't even know his name, "Umm…what's your name?"

He continued to give her a cold look, "Neji Hyuuga."

"Sakura Haruno," Sakura responded and continued to introduce Tenten, "Tenten. Just Tenten."

Neji paused a moment to take in a deep breath, "So Sakura and Just Tenten, are you willing to go along with that madman's plans?"

"At least we agree on one thing," Tenten muttered.

Sakura gave her a reprimanding look, "Tenten…"

She rolled her eys, "Fine," she directed her attention back to Neji Hyuuga, "Hyuuga, we're a little short on cash-"

Neji didn't hesistate to take an opening, "If your grocery bill is always like that, then I can see why."

Tenten gritted her teeth and resisted ripping his head (or atleast his hair) off with her bare hands. Sakura continued for Tenten, "The point is, we'd appreciate it if you'd comply with us just until its fixed then we'll get out your hair."

Reading Tenten's mind, Sakura stopped her before Tenten could…comment, for a nicer word, on Neji's particularly long girly hair.

Neji considered for a moment, "Fine, I'll agree to it," Tenten waited for it and knew exactly his next words and mouth with him, "Under one condition."

Neji noticed her doing so and gave her another of his favorite, raise your eyebrow look. She rolled her eyes in response.

Sakura, not wanting to lose on the deal, barrel rolled him, "Great, we'll cover up the hole so we can't see another and we'll both keep it down and ignore one another," Neji didn't bother responding to this, "I work outside so you'll have no problem with me. Tenten works from here, so she'll be here if there are any problems."

_"She'll probably be the problem," _Neji thought and forced himself to pay attention.

Sakura noticed where Neji was looking and put a mental note in her head, _"Mr. Old Grouch has a thing for Tenten…interesting."_

"So we'll work from there, agreed?"

Neji tersely nodded and got up, "I'll go the store and get some thick stock paper to cover it up."

Sakura politely smiled, "Thank you," and nudged Tenten to do the same.

Tenten complied, but he could tell that it was unwilling done and that she'd rather toss him off a cliff herself rather than wholeheartedly mean it.

-

Day 1

The contracter came in and named the price.

"That'll be about 750."

Tenten blinked in surprise, "Wow, that's less than I thought it would be."

He nodded understandingly, "Though it looks like a lot of damage, it's really not that much. It's just mainly caulking. It should be done in a couple of days."

That was one of the best news she had heard in days.

The contracter continued, "We'll start tomorrow at 8, yeah?"

She nodded, "Perfectly fine. I'll be here all day."

He nodded and tipped his hat at her on the way out.

This wouldn't be so hard.

-

That night, Sakura and Tenten's apartment was quieter than usual.

Tenten was in a middle of a big idea and Sakura was just plain exhausted.

"12 kids, too many cavities," she moaned before falling on the couch sleeping.

Tenten sat next to the hole and scribbled and wrote down quickly, muttering her ideas out loud.

"Roommates, hole, hmm…should she be blond?"

"…do you always mutter to yourself?" A voice came from the other side of the hole.

Tenten glared at the hole, "I thought we'd do best to ignore each other."

"Yeah, but you're muttering kind of loud."

She frowned, "Sorry," not sounding sorry at all.

Neji, on the other side, considered leaving it be, but debated, this was a lot more interesting than anything on TV, "What is that you do again?"

"I'm a mangaka."

This came as a surprise to him, "Really? What kind?"

"Shoujo."

He remembered back when at all the manga his cousin read, "What are some of your popular works?"

Tenten pulled the sheet up and poked her head in, "Your awfully nosy, aren't you?"

Neji shrugged, "I decided you're more interesting than TV."

She returned one of his looks, even though he couldn't see it, "Thanks that's such a compliment."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"…Angel Bound."

He blinked in surprise, "That's a really popular series. My younger cousin reads that a lot. You're really famous, aren't you?"

Tenten turned away and shrugged, "Kind of, I'm working on a new series right now."

"Really?" He looked through at the scribbles she was doing, "That's really good. What's it about?"

"I haven't really worked it out yet," Tenten said, unconsciously relaxing, "I usually do my characters first before the plot."

"That seems like fun work," Neji noted how she lit up when she talked about her work.  
"It is," she responded easily, "How is it working at a grocery store?"

"Not as interesting as being a mangaka," he noted now dull it sounded out loud saying that you worked at a grocery store, "It has its low and high points."

She raised an eyebrow, "Which are?"

He smirked, "I don't have to go anywhere to get my shopping done and I get a discount, but I constantly have to deal with old ladies trying to find dates their daughters or nieces."

Laughing, she put down her tablet, "That sounds like torture."

"It's not that bad," he responded, "It sounds fun being your own boss, in a way."

She leaned against the wall, "It's alright, though it gets kind of lonely being by yourself most of the time," she laughed, "You develop some bad habits."

Neji closed his eyes and relaxed, "Such as?"

"Talking to yourself and mumbling," Tenten couldn't help tossing in that last part.

"Well, I guess I deserved that," Neji looked up towards the clock and realized how late it was.

Tenten on the other side noticed as well, "Wow, it's really late, isn't it? Well, Hyuga-san, I guess I better let you get some rest before dealing with more old ladies tomorrow."

Somehow Neji felt weird being called Hyuga-san by her, "You can just call me Neji"

He paused and listened tensely for her response.

"Well, ok then…Neji."

Somehow that felt right.  
"Good night, Tenten."

"Good night."

--Day Two--

To her surprise, they actually came at 8, just like they said. The promply got to work and construction was going well under way and the hole was half filled. Tenten's story juices were flowing and she was in the creative zone.

It was only when she faintly heard a door open when she snapped out of her drawing. She turned expecting to see Sakura, but no one was there.

She leaned her ear towards the hole and heard shuffling going on. So that's where the sound came from.

She stretched, "Perfect, at this rate I can send in the first chapter next week." She ambled into the kitchen realizing how hungry she was and that she couldn't remember when she last ate. After debating between some not so fresh chinese take-out or some healthy yogurt, she pulled a yogurt out of the fridge she munched while she leaned back on her little station looking at her work.

"Hmmm….maybe Haruka should date another guy before getting with Aiki…I think I should change his name…maybe-"

Suddenly a voice interrupted her mumbling. "Neji."

She looked towards the hole, "Having a sense of pride is good, but being egoistic is kind of bad."

"Neji is a much better name than Aiki."

Tenten paused mentally, replaying her conversation in her head, "How long have you been listening to me?"

"Chapter next week."

She frowned towards the hole, "Didn't they tell you eavesdropping is bad?"

Neji smirked on the other side, "Yes, but I wasn't always a good child, growing up."

"I can tell."

"Look who's talking, grocery racing?"

Tenten sweatdropped, "Was it that easy to tell?"

"The whole store could hear your starting call."

"I bet you've never tried it, so don't diss it unless you've tried it."

He paused at her choice of words, "How old are you again?"

"25, why?"

Same age, "No reason, and I don't think I'll be trying grocery shopping any time soon."

"You're missing out on a lot of fun."

"…right."

--Day 3--

The hole was getting smaller and smaller and her story was getting more done and done.

Sakura was coming later and later every day.

"Maybe she's finally having a life," Tenten thought out loud.

"So are you claiming that you have a life?"

Tenten jolted, "Geez, next time tell me when you're entering a conversation!" She looked at the clock to double check, 10 am, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Day off."

"So what are you planning on doing all day then?" Wouldn't it be weird if she said something totally embarrassing while he was around?

"Relax and enjoy listening to my neighbor talk to herself all day."

"Really?" Was he serious? Great, she had to mentally edit everything that came out of her mouth.

"Really," this was a much better plan than meditating.

Tenten had to warn him, "If you hear anything weird, ignore me."

"Like everything else you say isn't."

She pouted, "Hey! That's mean, but seriously, you should do more on your day off. They probably come rarely."

She was right. This was the first day in 3 years that he willingly took off. This wasn't a good sign.

"So?"

When she didn't immediately respond, he became concerned.

"Tenten?"

A knock came at his door. He was about to ignore it, more concerned about the lack of response than anything, but the knocking persisted. Annoyed, he slammed the door open, revealing Tenten. He quickly hid is annoyed expression and surprise.

"What are you doing?"

Tenten went right in, "Having a life. Come on, get your stuff, we're going out."

"Out?" Out as in a date or out as with friends…quite a question.

She rolled her eyes, "No, in," when he had picked his stuff up, she pushed him outside, "Of course, outside! I want to go get some ice cream."

"Ice cream," he repeated daftly, what was going on? And could someone please make a dictionary translating this girl? "What about your apartment?"  
"The construction workers left a while ago. They said it's almost done."

What was this pressure in his chest? Neji pondered, "So where are we going?"

"You'll see."

-

"How is it?" Tenten eagerly asked Neji, licking her double chocolate ice cream cone.

He shrugged, "Pretty good."

Tenten sighed, "Though I wish you'd have gotten something besides vanilla. Vanilla's good, but it's so plain."

"Then do you want to give me yours?"

Tenten held her cone protectively, "No way. This is mine. Mine I tell you!"

"Not even a little?"

"No."

--Day 4—

When Neji got home that day, he saw that the hole was completely fixed. That's when he realized the silence in the room. It was…too quiet.

He turned on the TV and watched it for a bit. Somehow it was just all irritating. He turned on some music and tried to relax. Minutes passed as his irritation didn't lessen. Finally he just got irritated and went to sleep, or at least tried to.

Two hours later of tossing and turning, opened his window and leaned against the window.

What was up with him?

-Bang Bang- He thudded his head against the window. This was so stupid.

"Umm…what are you doing?"

He turned to see Tenten curiously looking at him and realized what he looked like, "Errr…releasing stress? What are you doing?"

Tenten didn't seem to notice that it was a lame excuse, "Well, I was just finished up my new story while I heard thumping. At first I thought some pigeons ran into my window on accident. It happens sometimes," she answered to his questioning look, "but then it turns out it was you. Did you see that they fixed the hole?"

"Yeah," he lamely replied. Neji! Why aren't you saying something smart, he reprimanded himself. "So how did your story go?"

Tenten grinned happily, "I think is going to be absolutely great! I'm going to send it in tomorrow."

He slightly smiled, "What's it called?"

She tilted her head and softly smiled, "Moon's shine."

He quickly turned red and tried to hide it, "So as a celebration, do you want to go out?"

She looked at him surprised, "Out?"

Smirking, he copied her words, "No, in. Of course out."

"Sure."

"Are you going to go shopping any time soon?"

Looking at him questionably, "No, why?"

"So I don't have to be there to see you go grocery racing."

"Hey!"

"And also to see you afterwards and maybe do something."

Tenten asked the key question, "Together?"

Neji seriously looked her in the eye, "Together."

She feigned nonchalant, "I could go for that."

"By the way I was serious about the whole telling me when you're going shopping."

"Hey!"

--author's note--

Finally made a two-shot! yay!!

I think I want to make another two-shot...maybe a SasuSaku one...

Well, I'll think about it.

NinjaPower signing out!


End file.
